Power-operated sickles have been and are presently widely used for the cutting of agricultural plants. These sickles normally include a plurality of reciprocating cutting teeth that move along stationary teeth and pinching and cutting the stalk of the plant in a scissor-like fashion. Typically, the sickle extends horizontally and laterally outward from the combine or tractor and is generally close to the ground for cutting the plants at the stalk without interfering with the crop. The reciprocating teeth are attached to and are driven by a drive bar which is itself reciprocally driven with power from the combine or tractor or a separate motor.
Certain components, such as the reciprocally-driven drive bar and portions of the cutting teeth are typically exposed from the upper side thereof for ease in assembly, replacement of parts, and general maintenance. In operation, as the sickle is pushed forwardly, the reciprocating teeth act to cut the stalk of the plant and rotating reels normally push the upper portion of the plant backwardly whereat the crop can be separated from the stalk. However, depending on the speed of the rotating reel, the speed of the combine or tractor and the general direction toward which the plant may be leaning causes the various plants to fall back at different rates. Quite often, a substantial portion of the plant is still forward of the sickle when the knife acts to cut the stalk thereof. In fact, quite often the stalk moves back toward the drive bar while a portion of the upper plant is still forward of the sickle. In such cases, the stalk may come in contact with the reciprocally driven components of the sickle and vibration forces are sent up through the stalk and to the rest of the plant. Further yet, because soybean pods and other pods can be fragile, the vibration causes the pod to break releasing the beans. Unfortunately, when the pod has not yet fallen back behind the sickle, the released beans fall directly to the ground in front of the sickle and are wasted. Yields are, in essence, decreased because a portion of the crop remains in the field and could not be harvested.
Accordingly, a need exists to smoothly cut the stalk of the plant without transferring vibration forces thereto generally prior to the plant falling backwardly over the sickle. Additionally, a need exists for a sickle design without cumbersome numerous components and which is relatively inexpensive to manufacture, long lasting, and generally easy to maintain.